Carmen Flowe
Born September 27th, 1990. One of Morqa Flowe's pupils, and "sister" of Varios Flowe. Possesses the Luna Talent. She grew up with under the care of Morqa, and developed a relationship with her fellow pupil, Varios. Growing to see how bad of a person he is, she distances herself from him. Much of her story involves avoiding Varios and doing what she can to aid the Four. She is often quiet, and rarely expresses what she's feeling to anybody. Origins Carmen was taken in by Morqa at age 11. She does not speak of her early childhood at all, but her Talent suggests that she may be from Aubre; she even displays some emotional impact when she goes there with Varios. Carmen was chosen by Morqa to be a second pupil, as well as a companion for his other pupil, Varios. the two students developed a relationship together. Talent & Abilities Carmen possesses the Talent of Luna, which may give her some sort of power based on the state of the moon. Although she had Darkness installed into her upon becoming Morqa's pupil, she shied away from using it as a power, and can only use it to travel across the world in great speeds (via dark puddles). Carmen, like Varios, wears a black tunic imbued with Darkness to protect herself from the Light with which she works. Story Carmen's story involves her developing relationship with Varios, her feelings towards Thom and his friends, and her desire to help that group. Before the Four are freed from Oneiric Stasis, Carmen begins to see Varios for the rude, uncaring person he is, and begins to distance herself from him. She still cares for him, but feels what she is doing is for the best. She refuses all of his advances and shuts herself in emotionally. Varios asks her to go along with his "ultimate rebellion against their tyrant master" (freeing the Four from Stasis and escaping), and she refuses. Over time, she becomes more involved with Morqa's project with the Four, and, at Carmen's suggestion, Morqa sends her into the Stasis World to observe the Four's Oneiric selves. Despite Morqa's strict orders to avoid interaction with them, Carmen befriends one of the four, a boy named Thom. Their friendship grows, and she continues to visit the Stasis World daily; it becomes the one thing that she looks forward to. After noticing a change in Thom's behavior (most notably that he did not associate with the other three as much), Morqa asks Carmen if she has made any interactions. She admits to her friendship with Thom, and expects pure rage from Morqa. Instead, he nods in understanding and simply requests that she make things right. The two erase everything in the four's memory starting with Carmen's entry to the present date, as if she were never there. Naturally, Carmen is upset at this, but hides it from both her master and Varios. As her emotions build up and her friendship with Thom becomes harder and harder to forget, she decides to go along with Varios' plan, if only to allow her to see Thom and his friends again, such that they would become friends for real this time. The two set the Four free on July 4, 2005. After Freeing the Four Carmen and Varios head to Aubre to find a place to hide from Morqa. Varios assumes he will hunt them down and is hurried about the situation, but Carmen disagrees. Still, she says nothing and the two continue on to the city of Tepton. They find an abandoned building and use its attic as their new home. They stay the night, and in the morning Varios tells Carmen he's going to take her to Urma to show her his plan to restore balance to the world. Having no real choice, she agrees to go with him, all the while wanting only to return to the Four and aid them in their acquaintance with the real world. On the way to Urma, Varios explains his plan: he wishes to find the boy Rael, who he says has the ability to destroy Chaos without repercussion. Carmen lies in disbelief, but again, keeps it to herself and follows along, thinking that it would be best not to aggrivate Varios. When they reach Rael's apartment, Carmen sees Rael and his three friends and is reminded Thom and his group. At this point, all she wants is to help them. When Varios insults one of Rael's friends, she speaks up in that friend's defense. In return, Varios strikes her in the face. Rael and his friends instantly jump to Carmen's defense, and are then attacked by Varios. They successfully beat him down, and Varios grabs Carmen and takes her away via a dark puddle. On the road along The Plains, Varios reveals to Carmen that he knows all about her visits to her friend in the Stasis World. Outraged, he pushes Carmen to the ground and leaves her to do as she wishes. Carmen holds back her tears, trying instead to focus on her newfound freedom. After Separation from Varios Carmen's first order of business is to visit the Four, but realizes she is at a total loss as to what she should do. She reluctantly decides to call Morqa and ask for help. He is surprisingly understanding, realizing that Varios has a way of influencing people. Carmen knows that his influence had little to do with why she left, but does not tell this to Morqa. She learns from him that he asked Kelcy to send the Four back to Morqa's home, Flowe Manor. Carmen asks what Morqa did with them. He tells her that he decided they should indeed be set free into the world, and he sent them off to find Rael in Urma. Carmen is relieved, and tells Morqa that she is going to meet with them. He reluctantly allows this, but only under the condition that she find a reason to do so. She says she will offer them vook to ride to Urma on. Morqa agrees, and they say goodbye. Carmen fetches two Vook from Morqa's ranch in The Plains, and takes them to a point ahead of the Four on the main road. She is incredibly nervous to meet them, especially Thom. She realizes he will not remember her, and is stricken with grief and denial. As she sees them approach on the horizon, she panics and pulls her tunic's large hood over her face, masking it with Darkness. She speaks simply and plainly, doing her best to detach herself from the situation. After she sends Kim and Sara off on their vook, she builds up the courage to show her face. As Thom mounts the vook with Amber, Carmen tells them her name. Thom tells her that it was "nice to meet her," and rides off. Carmen plops onto the ground and weeps at the proof against her denial. Avoidance Carmen decides to avoid her emotions almost entirely by doing two things: avoiding Varios and avoiding the Four. She decides instead to explore the worlds and mingle with the teens of Mundis. She first decides to check in on Rael and Austin, who came to her defense in Urma. She gives them proper thanks, and offers any help she can in return. They politely decline, and leave to take care of something. Carmen leaves and thinks of who else she knows of that she can visit. Upon realizing that the answer to that is "nobody," her thoughts return to Thom and his friends, and then to Varios. Though she does not like him, she does indeed miss the companionship and affection Varios offered. Carmen decides to explore Aubre, and returns to Tepton for the night before taking off. Seeing Varios is a risk she decides to take. The next morning, she leaves Tepton and wanders the lush landscape of Aubre. She falls in love with Aubre, and thinks of how she might one day decide to live there. She visits the floating island's capital city, Villanauve, which is an ancient village that thrives off the Talents of its citizens. Mystified by the architecture and the Traditional language the people use, Carmen is certain that this island is where she wants to settle one day. She spends another day there, and during this day, she receives a call from Morqa: Thom has gone on a Chaotic rampage and has sent Amber to Mnemosyne and wounded both Kim and Sara. Carmen drops everything and heads to Mundis. Saving Thom Carmen's first stop is Turlock, to find Kelcy. Kelcy is the only individual left in the world who has Order running through her. Morqa has some reserves, but these are depleting. Carmen informs Kelcy of what she is and how she can help Thom. However, Kelcy is in disbelief, and she barely knows Thom at this point (aside from the familiarity from the Stasis World). Carmen, frustrated, ends up kidnapping her via sedation and taking her back to Tepton to work on her. When Kelcy awakens, she realizes what's going on and becomes much more cooperative. Carmen apologizes for kidnapping her, and Kelcy shrugs it off. Carmen explains why this is so important to her, and Kelcy agrees. Carmen ends up drawing too much Order from her, triggering a sort of panic state in Kelcy's body that mass-produces the substance. This reaction puts Kelcy in a sort of dazed trance. Cursing herself, Carmen quickly packs her things, asks Morqa to locate Thom, finds him in Urma, and goes to take Kelcy to speak with him. She and Kelcy meet him in the Ottumwa district in Urma. Carmen, under intense emotional pressure, opens up and tells him about their relationship in the Stasis World, and begs him to remember her; he doesn't. She then asks him to remember his friends and go meet them. Thom, with his regained sense of self due to Kelcy's presence, agrees, and remembers what he must do: save Amber. He leaves, and Carmen weeps for her lost friend; all denial she has had in her mind has been shut down. Carmen returns Kelcy home, and stays idle, simply waiting for Thom, Kim, and Sara to succeed. Relationships With Varios Carmen and Varios have a history. They were romantically involved for a few years, until Carmen realized how bad of a person Varios was, and began to distance herself from him. Since then, her relationship with him has involved mostly emotional abuse from him, and silence from her. She never spoke out about how he treated her, and was avoidant of him in most cases. She never stops caring for him, though, and this may be why she sticks with him so long. With Thom Carmen and Thom became very good friends in the Stasis World. Though Carmen was forced to erase this from Thom's memory, she still feels for him as if he were her best friend. Throughout the story, she continues to have hopes that he may remember her in some form, but this notion is continually rejected. This, combined with abuse from Varios and her perceived failures of a scholar, account for much of her emotional damage in the story. Category:Characters Category:Teens of Mundis Category:Scholars